Mimi ninachaji simu yangu kabla ya kuondoka nyumbani.

I charge my phone before leaving home.

Breakdown of Mimi ninachaji simu yangu kabla ya kuondoka nyumbani.

• mimi: I
• simu: the phone
• yangu: my
• kabla ya: before
• kuondoka: to leave
• nyumbani: at home
• kuchaji: to charge

Questions & Answers about Mimi ninachaji simu yangu kabla ya kuondoka nyumbani.

Why do we start with Mimi? Is it necessary to always include it?

Swahili verbs carry subject prefixes (e.g. ni- for “I”), so the personal pronoun Mimi (“I”) is grammatically optional. You normally say Ninachaji simu yangu… and it still means “I charge my phone….” You include Mimi only for emphasis or to contrast with someone else (“Mimi ninachaji… not you”).

What does ninachaji mean and how is it built?

Ninachaji = “I charge” or “I am charging.”
It breaks down as:
• ni- = 1st-person-singular subject prefix (“I”)
• na- = present-tense marker (“am …ing”)
• chaji = verb stem “charge”
Put together: ni- + na- + chaji = ninachaji.

Why is it simu yangu instead of wangu simu or simu mi?

Possessives in Swahili follow the noun and agree with its noun class.
• Simu (“phone”) is class 9/10, which uses the possessive prefix ya-.
• The 1st-person-singular ending is -angu, so ya + angu = yangu.
Thus simu yangu = “my phone.” Putting wangu before or after in another position would break the noun-class agreement.

What does kabla ya mean and why is there a ya?

Kabla = “before.” When you follow it with another verb, Swahili treats that verb as a noun (an infinitive), so you need the preposition ya to link them.
Structure: kabla ya + [infinitive] = “before [doing something].”

Why is the verb after kabla ya in the infinitive form kuondoka? What does the ku- prefix do?

Ku- is the infinitive marker in Swahili, turning a verb stem into “to [verb].”
• ondoka = stem “leave”
• ku- + ondoka = kuondoka = “to leave.”
Since kabla ya requires a noun or infinitive, you use kuondoka.

Could we put kabla ya kuondoka nyumbani at the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. Swahili word order is flexible for adverbial/time clauses. Both are correct:

1. Mimi ninachaji simu yangu kabla ya kuondoka nyumbani.
2. Kabla ya kuondoka nyumbani, ninachaji simu yangu.
   The second gives slight emphasis to when you charge.

How would you express “I will charge my phone before leaving home” (future tense)?

Replace the present-tense marker na- with the future-tense marker ta-:
• ni- (I) + ta- (future) + chaji = nitachaji
So: Nitachaji simu yangu kabla ya kuondoka nyumbani.

Is chaji a native Swahili word?

No, chaji is a loanword from English “charge.” Swahili frequently adopts new technical or modern terms (e.g. kompyuta “computer,” teksi “taxi”) and nativizes them to Swahili phonology.